Thursday, August 5, 2010

Interjections! Show emotion and excitement

From all of the trips I have taken thus far, and god-willing I will be able to continue my travels in my last 2 weeks here!, I have noted the differences in the climates. It took me until Wednesday morning after I returned from Ankara to realize how humid Istanbul really is. Living in Michigan has gotten me used to weird weather, especially humidity. It's just something I expect from the weather. Istanbul is on the strait between 2 seas - of course it's humid! Before I went to Ankara and Eskisehir, I had mostly visited places that were on the coasts. The only place I had visited prior to this trip not on the coast was Cappadocia, which I was so preoccupied by the sites and strong sun that the humidity levels weren't important to me. The central Anatolian weather didn't phase me. Sure it was as hot as I imagined hell to be, but I've been in hot weather before. I didn't notice the humidity when I got off the train - you're going to feel different walking into the Mediterranean climate after being in a compartment heavily air conditioned. When I was going to work, however, that's when it hit me. My hair didn't try for at least 2 hours. I took the metrobus, which was cramped full of people so I was sweating. By the time I got to work I probably should have taken another shower.

This morning I slept through my alarm. Thus I had to take the metrobus again today, but it was a smoother ride. There weren't as many people on this bus, and the minibuses I took weren't as crowded either. Work is ok; it's not very interesting. I was assigned to enter more checks into the database. There was some missing information, and I took it to Erdem, my coworker. He spent a good amount of time talking on the phone trying to find the information. Eventually he gave up and just wrote in some numbers (these were numbers we had come up with, not just random ones). I said, "ta-da!" He gave me the what-in-the-h-e-double-hockey-sticks-did-you-just-say look. I said, "You know, 'ta-da!'. It's an interjection.." I ended up checking all of the online translators that I could think of trying to find a Turkish equivalent. There isn't one. It never crossed my mind that words like that would be different. It was a learning experience for us both. He spent the rest of the afternoon saying, "ta-da!", correct context or not.

From looking back at my previous posts, I realized that I didn't explain some things that you might not have known. Anitkabir is Mustafa Kemal Ataturk's mausoleum. He founded the Republic of Turkey in 1923 and was the first president. He died in 1938 in Dolmabahce Palace (I've been there!). Around the mausoleum is a museum recounting his life, as well as the development and reform of Turkey. NOTE: the museum is totally worth going to because there is a lot of information regarding Turkey's history and it's AIR CONDITIONED.